Even as widespread rainfall continues to evade the catchments of Chennai’s reservoirs, Krishna water has emerged as a vital source, helping stabilise storage and drinking water supply. Chennai received a high volume of Krishna water on Saturday for this spell.

The State’s entry point of Kandaleru Poondi canal received nearly 464 cubic feet per second of water (cusecs), helping prevent a rapid decline in reservoir levels amid the lack of significant rainfall.

For now, Krishna water remains the only source replenishing storage during the weak southwest monsoon.

The neighbouring districts, including Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, have a rain deficit of more than 25% this season.

Increased water flow

Officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD) said that the Andhra Pradesh authorities have stepped up water discharge to Chennai despite low storage levels in the State’s reservoirs, including Kandaleru. The Andhra Pradesh authorities had promised to release about 400 cusecs of Krishna water to Chennai during a visit by team of WRD and Chennai Metrowater officials last month.

“We had sought an inflow of about 500 cusecs of Krishna water to shore up the dipping storage in our city’s reservoirs. We usually receive such volumes of water only during the rainy season. But this year, water was released during a crucial period despite Kandaleru reservoir having only 30% of its total capacity,” said an official.

1,000 mcft received

Chennai has received nearly 1,000 million cubic feet (mcft) of Krishna water since July 1 for this spell, which has added to the overall storage of the reservoirs. If about 500 cusecs of water is received every day, storage in Chennai’s reservoirs could be bolstered by nearly 1,300 mcft in about a month. This would be equal to one month’s drinking water supply to the city, officials said. Water received at Poondi reservoir is transferred to the waterbody in Red Hills for the city’s water supply.

Currently, the five major reservoirs have storage of nearly 44% of their capacity, and the water managers expect to stave off water crisis this year with the available storage. The department expects the water release to be increased further in the next few days.

Published - August 09, 2026 05:00 am IST